Methods and machine readable mediums to enable a fixed price purchase within an online auction environment

ABSTRACT

A method of allowing a seller in an auction facility to offer buyers the option of buying an offering at a pre-auction seller determined price or using a regular auction process. If a buyer is given the option to purchase at the seller determined price and decides to use the regular auction process by submitting a bid, the option to buy the offering at a pre-auction seller determined price is discontinued.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/820,574 filed Mar. 28, 2001, which claims priority from U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/242,729 filed Oct. 23, 2000, whichapplications are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present application relates generally to the field of e-commerceand, more specifically, to a pre-auction seller determined price for anInternet-based auction facility.

BACKGROUND

Many Internet-based auction facilities have developed in the pastseveral years. Through Internet-based auction facilities, potentialsellers can enter information about their product or service forpotential buyers to bid on. The information submitted by potentialsellers is then organized and stored by the Internet-based auctionfacility. Potential buyers can search through the organized sellerinformation to find products or services they wish to bid on.

Once a buyer locates an item to bid on, the buyer can compete with otherbuyers for the item by submitting bids during a specified auction timeperiod. At the end of the specified auction time period, the highest bidbuyer is notified and the transaction between the seller and the highestbid buyer is facilitated.

While the current Internet-based auction facility works well for someitems, there are several disadvantages. For example, many items in anInternet-based auction facility have at most one bid during thespecified auction time. An interested buyer must sometimes wait days foran auction to end even though his bid is the only bid received. Also,there are many potential buyers who don't like auction formats.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The methods and machine readable medium is illustrated by way of exampleand not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in whichlike references indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary network-basedtransaction facility in the form of an Internet-based auction facility;

FIG. 2 is a database diagram illustrating an exemplary database for thetransaction facility;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method of receivingoffering information from a seller including whether to offer the itemat a pre-auction seller determined price;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method of generating abuyer preferred index page using category preferences or searchcriteria;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are flow charts illustrating an exemplary method ofdisplaying user interfaces for and conducting an auction facility withan auction purchase process and optionally a fixed-price purchaseprocess;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary seller interface to receive informationon seller's offerings;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary buyer interface to facilitate a buyer inlocating items to purchase or bid on;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary item list generated in response tobuyer's category selection or search criteria provided in the userinterface of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary buyer interface used to receive buyerinformation including an indication to use the fixed-price purchaseprocess or the auction purchase process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods and machine readable mediums for providing an option to sell andbuy at a pre-auction seller determined price in an Internet-basedauction facility are described. In the following description, forpurposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding. Nevertheless, it will beevident, however, to one skilled in the art that the claimed methods andmachine readable mediums may be practiced without these specificdetails.

Terminology

For the purposes of the present specification, the term “transaction”shall be taken to include any communications between two or moreentities and shall be construed to include, but not be limited to,commercial transactions including sale and purchase transactions,auctions and the like.

Transaction Facility

An embodiment of an electronic transaction facility is shown in FIGS. 1and 2.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary network-basedtransaction facility in the form of an Internet-based auction facility10. While an exemplary embodiment is described within the context of anauction facility, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat the methods and machine readable mediums described herein may findapplication in many different types of computer-based, andnetwork-based, commerce facilities. It will also be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art that auction facilities of other architectures may beutilized. The instructions stored in the auction facility (which can beexecuted by a processor) can be stored on a machine-readable mediumincluding, but not limited to read only memory (ROM), random accessmemory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flashmemory devices, or electrical, optical, acoustical or other form ofpropagated signals.

The auction facility 10 includes one or more of a number of types offront-end servers, namely page servers 12 that deliver web pages (e.g.,markup language documents), picture servers 14 that dynamically deliverimages to be displayed within Web pages, listing servers 16, CGI servers18 that provide an intelligent interface to the back-end of auctionfacility 10, and search servers 20 that handle search requests to theauction facility 10. E-mail servers 21 provide, inter alia, automatede-mail communications to users of the auction facility 10.

The back-end servers include a database engine server 22, a search indexserver 24 and a credit card database server 26, each of which maintainsand facilitates access to a respective database.

The Internet-based auction facility 10 may be accessed by a clientprogram 30, such as a browser (e.g., the Internet Explorer distributedby Microsoft Corp. of Redmond Wash.) that executes on a client machine32 and accesses the auction facility 10 via a network such as, forexample, the Internet 34. Other examples of networks that a client mayutilize to access the auction facility 10 include a wide area network(WAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless network (e.g. a cellularnetwork), or the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) (or PSTN) network.

Database Structure

FIG. 2 is a database diagram illustrating an exemplary database 23,maintained by and accessed via the database engine server 22, which atleast partially implements and supports the auction facility 10. Thedatabase 23 may, in one embodiment, be implemented as a relationaldatabase, and includes a number of tables having entries, or records,that are linked by indices and keys. In an alternative embodiment, thedatabase 23 may be implemented as a collection of blocks in anblock-oriented database. While FIG. 2 shows one embodiment of adatabase, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that themethods and machine readable mediums described herein may be used withother database structures.

Central to the database 23 is a user table 40, which contains a recordfor each user of the auction facility 10. A user may operate as aseller, buyer, or both, within auction facility 10. The database 23 alsoincludes item tables 42 that may be linked to the user table 40.Specifically, the item tables 42 include a seller items table 44 and abuyer items table 46. A user record in the user table 40 may be linkedto multiple items that are being, or have been auctioned via the auctionfacility 10. A link indicates whether the user is a seller or a buyerwith respect to items for which records exist within the items tables42. While offerings by the seller are referred to as “items” in thespecification, “items” includes any product or service offered by theseller. The database 23 also includes a note table 48 populated withnote records that may be linked to one or more item records within theitem tables 42 and/or to one or more user records within the user table40. Each note record within the note table 48 may include, inter alia, acomment, description, history or other information pertaining to an itembeing auctioned via the auction facility 10 or to a user of the auctionfacility 10.

A number of other tables are also shown to be linked to the user table40, namely a user past aliases table 50, a feedback table 52, a bidstable 54, an accounts table 56, and an account balances table 58.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart for an exemplary embodiment of a method toacquire offering information from a seller. The seller issues a listingrequest (block 100) to the auction facility 10, and the auction facilitygenerates instructions (block 110) offering the seller the option tosell his item using an auction purchase process option and/or afixed-price purchase process option. After the instructions have beentransmitted (block 120), and a page server 12 (see FIG. 1) displays theinstructions, the seller decides whether to offer a buyer the chance tobuy the offering at a pre-auction seller determined price in afixed-price purchase process. The seller transmits a purchase processindicator by either an affirmative (block 140) or a negative (block150). The server can receive and store in note table 48 of database 23(FIG. 2) this information for later use (block 160). The seller alsotransmits other offering information, such as a description, picture,reserve price, and contact information to be collected and stored innote table 48 of database 23 (see FIG. 2) (block 160). Optionally, ifthe seller sends a pre-auction seller determined price that is less thanthe reserve price he or she sends, the seller can be notified of anerror.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart showing one embodiment of a buyer'sinteraction with the Internet-based auction facility. The buyer locatesthe site by inputting the auction facility identifier (block 600) intothe client program 30 running on client machine 32 (see FIG. 2) whichtransmits the auction facility identifier (block 610) through theInternet 34 (See FIG. 1). The Internet-based auction facility receivesthe transmission and (block 620) a listing server 16 (see FIG. 1)generates a broad list of available categories of items stored in itemstable 42 (see FIG. 2) for the buyer to select from. The auction facility10 (block 630) transmits the category list and transmits an interface,which can be presented by a page server 12 (see FIG. 1), to allow thebuyer to enter search criteria which may be independent of the categorylist. The buyer selects a category preference from the category list orgenerates a search criteria (block 640). The buyer then transmits (block650) the category preference or search criteria, again, through theInternet 34 (see FIG. 1). Upon receipt of the category preference orsearch criteria, the auction facility uses a search server 20 (seeFIG. 1) to generate an item index page of relevant offerings includingvisual indicators displayed in respect to items in which the seller isallowing a buyer to buy the item at a pre-auction seller determinedprice (block 660). The item index page is transmitted to the buyer(block 680). After receiving the item index page (block 670), the buyergenerates a request for an item to purchase or bid on. Picture servers14 (see FIG. 1) can also be used to show the buyer pictures (ifavailable) of the item. The buyer's request is then transmitted (block200).

FIGS. 5A and 5B show a flow chart illustrating how the client interfaceswith the auction facility, located on a first computer system, when apre-auction seller determined price is an alternative option to bidding.After the facility receives the buyer's request (block 200), decisionblock 210 decides if there is still time remaining in the item's auction(item requested by the buyer). If a predetermine period of time haspassed, the buyer will not be allowed to place a bid or buy at thepre-auction seller determined price. Instead the auction will end andthe highest bidder (if there is one) will be determined (block 380). Ifthere is time remaining, then the determination is made in decisionblock 220 whether a prior bid has been received. If a prior bid has beenreceived, then the pre-auction seller determined price is no longeravailable to the buyer and the buyer's only option is to bid. If noprior bid has been received, and the item has a pre-auction sellerdetermined price available, a first user interface will be created(block 230). The auction facility 10 will make the typical auctionpurchase process available through the user interface (block 240) andwill make the fixed price purchase process available to the client(block 250). The pre-auction seller determined price is retrieved forthe user interface (block 260). The first user interface is convertedinto a markup language document suitable for viewing by the buyer (block270). The generated markup language document is then transmitted forviewing by the buyer on a second computer system using page servers 12on the first computer system (block 280) (see FIG. 1).

If, at decision block 220, it is determined that an initial bid valuehas been received, a second user interface will be generated (block390). The typical auction purchase process is then made availablethrough the user interface (block 400). The second user interface isconverted into a markup language document suitable for viewing by thebuyer (block 270). The generated markup language document is thentransmitted to the buyer (block 280).

After the markup language document has been transmitted to the buyer, adetermination is made at decision block 420, based on the transmittedmarkup language document whether the fixed price purchase process isavailable to the buyer. If the fixed price purchase process is availableto the buyer, the buyer then makes a determination at decision block 290whether to buy the item at the pre-auction seller determined price orwhether to bid on the item. If the buyer chooses to purchase the itemusing the fixed price purchase process, his indication to buy at thepre-auction seller determined price is transmitted to the auctionfacility.

If the fixed price purchase process is not available to the buyer (asdetermined in decision block 420) or fixed price purchase process isavailable, but the buyer chooses not to use the fixed price purchaseprocess, the buyer generates a bid (block 310). The bid is thentransmitted to the auction facility (block 320).

Upon receiving a transmission from the buyer, a determination is made atdecision block 330 whether the buyer has chosen the fixed price purchaseprocess. If the buyer has chosen the fixed price purchase process, theauction is stopped (block 340) and a transaction is initiated betweenthe buyer and the seller (block 410). Optionally, the auction facilitycan check the buyer's credit before stopping the auction.

If the buyer has not opted to use the fixed price purchase process, asdetermined by the auction facility at decision block 330 (either becauseit wasn't available or he or she preferred to place a bid instead), thebid is received (block 350). Optionally, if the bid is greater than thepre-auction seller determined price (and the fixed price purchaseprocess is still available), the auction facility may invite the buyerto use the fixed price purchase process. Upon receipt of the bid, thefixed price purchase process option is removed (block 360) and adetermination is made at decision block 370 to see if there is any timeremaining in the auction. If there is time remaining in the auction,bids can be received and processed in the above manner until there is nomore time remaining in the auction. However, if there is no more timeremaining in the auction, the highest valid bid is determined from thereceived bids (block 380), and a transaction is initiated between thehighest bidder and the seller (block 410).

FIG. 6 provides an exemplary embodiment of the user interface 500created at block 110 in FIG. 3 to relay offering options to the sellerand collect information on the seller's item. The user interface 500includes a description (513) that describes an exemplary “Buy It Now”feature that provides the seller the option to allow a buyer to buy theitem at a pre-auction seller determined price 514.

FIG. 7 provides an exemplary embodiment of the category list 517 andsearch criteria request generated by object 620 in FIG. 4. A buyer cangenerate search criteria (block 640) by typing the search criteria(block 516).

FIG. 8 provides an exemplary embodiment of the item index page generatedat block 660 in FIG. 4. A possible placement of the fixed-price purchaseprocess availability icon 518 is shown next to the item. Also displayedin the embodiment of the item index page is a list of prices 514 whichcould either be the current bid or the pre-auction seller determinedprice if available.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary embodiment of the markup language documentgenerated at block 270 in FIG. 5A. Regular auction panel 503 isgenerated (blocks 240 and 400). Fixed price purchase process panel 504is generated (block 250) in FIG. 5A. The buyer can submit a bid 520 or,depending on the availability of the fixed price purchase process, canstart the fixed price purchase process in panel 504.

Thus methods and machine readable mediums have been described. Althoughthe methods and machine readable mediums have been described withreference to specific exemplary embodiments, it will be evident thatvarious modifications and changes may be made to these embodimentswithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the methods andmachine readable mediums. Accordingly, the specification and drawingsare to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

1. A method comprising: receiving a request to list an offering to abuyer using an auction purchase process and a fixed purchase process;determining whether a bid has been received for the offering to thebuyer; and presenting, via a first computer system, both an auctionpurchase process and a fixed-price purchase process for purchase of theoffering to the buyer responsive to the determining that the bid has notbeen received.
 2. The method of claim 1, responsive to receipt of afixed price offer from the buyer as part of the fixed-price purchaseprocess, establishing an electronic transaction between the buyer and aseller for purchase of the offering at a fixed price.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the presenting includes generating a first userinterface identifying both the auction purchase process and thefixed-price purchase process to the buyer.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the first user interface is a markup language document generatedat a second computer system, and wherein the presenting includescommunicating the markup language document from the second computersystem to the first computer system via a network.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the auction purchase process is presented with aninitial bid value and wherein the fixed-price purchase process ispresented with a seller determined price.
 6. The method of claim 1,further including presenting to a seller a purchase process option tosell the offering by both the auction and the fixed-price purchaseprocesses, and receiving a purchase process indication from the sellerresponsive to the presentation of the purchase process option.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further including receiving a bid from the buyer aspart of the auction purchase process.
 8. The method of claim 7, furtherincluding inviting the buyer to use the fixed price purchase processresponsive to determining the bid is greater than a pre-auction sellerdetermined price.
 9. The method of claim 7, further including removingthe presentation of the fixed-price purchase process responsive toreceiving the bid.
 10. A method comprising: receiving, at a computersystem, offering information from a plurality of sellers at acomputer-based transaction facility; organizing the offering informationinto predetermined categories; receiving a category selection from abuyer at the computer-based transaction facility; and automaticallydisplaying a list of offering information in the selected category, theoffering information including a plurality of offerings including afirst offering that is associated with a visual indicator if a seller ofthe first offering has given an affirmative indication to allow a buyera chance to buy the first offering at a seller determined price and afirst bid has not accepted for the first offering.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the visual indicator includes a fixed-price purchaseprocess availability icon.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the firstoffering is associated with a pre-auction seller determined price. 13.The method of claim 10, removing the offering's selling information if aseller has given an affirmative indication to allow a first buyer achance to purchase the first offering at a seller determined price andan affirmative indication to purchase the offering at the sellerdetermined price has been received.
 14. The method of claim 10, removingthe visual indicator if a first bid has been accepted for the firstoffering.
 15. A tangible machine readable medium storing a set ofinstructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:receive a request to list an offering to a buyer using an auctionpurchase process and a fixed purchase process; determine whether a bidhas been received for the offering to the buyer; and present both anauction purchase process and a fixed-price purchase process for purchaseof the offering to the buyer responsive to the determination that thebid has not been received.
 16. The tangible machine readable medium ofclaim 15, responsive to receipt of a fixed price offer from the buyer aspart of the fixed-price purchase process, establishing an electronictransaction between the buyer and a seller for purchase of the offeringat a fixed price.
 17. A tangible machine readable medium storing a setof instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:receive offering information from a plurality of sellers at acomputer-based transaction facility; organize the offering informationinto predetermined categories; receive a category selection from a buyerat the computer-based transaction facility; and automatically display alist of offering information in the selected category, the offeringinformation including a plurality of offerings including a firstoffering that is associated with a visual indicator if a seller of thefirst offering has given an affirmative indication to allow a buyer achance to buy the first offering at a seller determined price and afirst bid has not accepted for the first offering.
 18. A tangiblemachine readable medium storing a set of instructions that, whenexecuted by a machine, cause the machine to: receive an offering'sselling information from a seller including an offering description, anindication whether to allow a buyer a chance to buy the offering at aseller determined price, and if the indication to allow the buyer thechance to buy the offering at the seller determined price isaffirmative, the seller determined price; receive purchase informationfrom the buyer including at least one of an affirmative indication topurchase the offering at the seller determined price if a seller hasgiven affirmative indication to allow the buyer the chance to buy theoffering at the seller determined price and a bid the buyer will buy theoffering at; and determine a successful buyer comprising: if anaffirmative indication to purchase the offering at the seller determinedprice is received from the buyer and no bids have been received for theoffering, the buyer, having given affirmative indication, is thesuccessful buyer; if a first bid is received from the buyer then a buyerfrom which the highest bid is received is the successful buyer, if theseller gives the affirmative indication to allow the buyer the chance tobuy the offering at the seller determined price, the chance to buy theoffering at the seller determined price terminates upon receipt of thefirst bid from the first buyer.
 19. A tangible machine readable mediumstoring a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, causethe machine to: receive offering information from a plurality of sellersat a computer-based transaction facility; organize the offeringinformation into predetermined categories; receive a category selectionfrom a buyer at the computer-based transaction facility; automaticallydisplay a list of offering information in the selected category, with avisual indicator appearing in association with a respective offering ifa seller of the offering has given affirmative indication to allow abuyer a chance to buy the first offering at a seller determined price;and remove the visual indicator after a first bid is received on thefirst offering from a first buyer.